Sage Lemon Butter Chicken Piccata with Mashed Cauliflower

Keeping things colorful and cozy today with this Sage Lemon Butter Chicken Piccata with Mashed Cauliflower. Lightly breaded chicken seared until golden with fresh sage, lemon, and butter. The chicken is finished in a simple white wine pan sauce with burst cherry tomatoes. It’s simple but mouthwatering. Especially when served over creamy mashed cauliflower hinted with garlic. This dish makes great use of those end of summer tomatoes. It’s the late summer dinner that everyone will love!

I’ve been waiting to share this recipe for far too long now. I first made it a couple of weeks ago when I had one too many cherry tomatoes in my kitchen. I immediately fell in love with the recipe. But something about this dish just felt too cozy to share mid-August, so I waited until today. The second week of September feels like the perfect timing for this chicken piccata. It uses up all those end of summer tomatoes, but yet feels cozy with the addition of warming sage (my favorite fall herb) and super creamy mashed cauliflower…a new favorite side dish that I never expected to love as much as I do. It’s the perfect transitional recipe to slowly step away from summer and head into the cooler fall days.

And most importantly, it’s just really good. The chicken soaks up all that delicious buttery pan sauce. It’s perfectly seasoned with fresh sage, thyme, and lemon. The mashed cauliflower is surprisingly satisfying, so creamy and so delicious. When paired together, I could not love this hearty, but healthy…ish dinner more.

Here is how you make this chicken piccata. It has a few steps, but comes together in under an hour. First up, start with the chicken. If you’ve made chicken parmesan this is very similar. Just dredge the chicken through a mix of flour and freshly grated parmesan cheese. Then pan-sear it in a hot skillet. This allows the chicken to form a nice golden crust on the outside. Using thin chicken cutlets is key. The thin chicken cooks evenly and browns nicely in a short amount of time. Tip: if your grocery store does not carry chicken cutlets, as a swap, try asking your butcher to pound out chicken breasts for you. This is a super easy task to do at home, but truthfully…it’s just not that much fun. The butcher can quickly pound out the chicken and save you the trouble…and the mess.

Ingredients:

4 chicken cutlets, or 2 boneless chicken breasts, sliced in half horizontally

kosher salt and black pepper

1/3 cup all-purpose flour (can use GF flour too)

1/4 cup grated parmesan

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup dry white wine, such as Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice + 1 addition lemon, sliced

12 fresh sage leaves

4 tablespoons salted butter

1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes

2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves

2 tablespoons capers

MASHED CAULIFLOWER

1 large head cauliflower, cut into florets

3 cloves garlic, smashed

2-3 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

4 tablespoons salted butter

Instructions

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Place the flour and parmesan in a shallow bowl and dredge the chicken through the flour mix, pressing gently to adhere.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet set over medium-high heat. When the oil is shimmering, add the chicken and sear on both sides until golden, about 3-5 minutes per side. Remove the chicken from the skillet.

To the same skillet, add the butter, sage, and lemon slices. Sear the sage until crisp, and the lemon until golden on each side, about 1 minute. Remove the sage and lemon from the pan and add to the plate with the chicken.

To the skillet, add the tomatoes, thyme, and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Cook until the tomatoes begin to pop, about 4-5 minutes. Pour in the wine and lemon juice, cook 1 minute. Add the capers and season with salt and pepper. Return the chicken to the pan and simmer for 5 minutes or until warmed through.

Meanwhile, make the mashed cauliflower. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add cauliflower florets and cook until tender, 10 minutes. Drain well.

In a food processor, combine the cauliflower, garlic, cream cheese, and butter, season to taste with salt and pepper. Pulse until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute.

To serve, spoon the mashed cauliflower onto plates. Add the chicken, sage and lemon slices. Then spoon over the pan sauce and tomatoes. Top with fresh thyme.